In these chapters, we have a quick goodbye to Zhou Yu, reintroduce Pang Tong (Young Phoenix), spend most of our time on the rise and fall (?) of Ma Chao, and finally end with introducing two confusingly named enemies: Zhang Lu and Liu Zhang. There are some good highlights. Pang Tong
Nights 462-482 This week has lots of short stories. First, it's a few about the Angel of Death coming for various wealthy people. Then we get some stories about piety and how Islam is superior to Christianity. Overall, it's not a strong week. One of
Chapters 55-56 We get a good episode with Xuande and Lady Sun, then a brief interlude with Cao Cao, then another failed scheme by Zhou Yu. Cao Cao’s interlude is the best. He has finally finished the Bronze Bird Tower, and it’s a classic villain’s lair.
Nights 437-461 Tawaddud is the ideal of a young woman in the Nights: religious, brilliant, sexually desirable (sigh), and a slave (sigh again). The Nights are starting to wear me down with all the authors’ lusting over slave children. In the story, Tawaddud impresses the sultan and his advisors
Chapters 53-54 We’re over 900 pages into the book, and we’re still meeting significant characters. Chapter 53 brings us Huang Zhong. At first, he seems to be an enemy of Liu Bei, but instead he joins him. In the same chapter, we lose a minor character (Taishi
Nights 414-436 This week starts with a bunch of short stories, followed by a story about Ali from Cairo (a character from a Magic card). The early short stories are fine, with the huge caveat that they involve love between men and slave girls. After those, we get a
Chapters 50-52 Like Arabian Nights, Romance is episodic. And its episodes don't end at the chapter breaks. The chapters often end on cliffhangers, where we are left wondering if a character will die or not. This is like Shahrazad. To stay alive (or in the case Romance,
Nights 390-413 This week had twenty-five stories in about thirty-three stories, one of the highest number of stories we’ll have in any given week. Many of the stories were about love and money, two of the themes that are common throughout the Nights so far. A
Chapters 48-49 In these chapters, we get the last moments before what I expect will be one of the story's greatest battles. Cao Cao sings a prideful song. Zhou Yu worries that their plans to burn Cao Cao's army will fail. He is worried they
Nights 367-389 This week, we get a decent end to the Ebony Horse story. Then we get a long story about lovers. We’ve had a lot of these; this one distinguishes itself with a few strong moments (a friendly lion in Nights 373-374 (pp. 155-156), a
Chapters 45-47 We get some more scheming and spying. It’s good suspense ahead of what I believe will be a decisive battle! But I have some complaints. Zhou Yu continues to work with Kongming, but Zhou Yu also seems to hate him and Liu Bei for no reason.
Nights 343-366 We start the week with some unremarkable short stories, then a couple of nasty misogynistic stories about sex with animals, then finally the Ebony Horse. I know the Ebony Horse from Magic, so I was looking forward to seeing what it was. It's awesome! The